The deadline for submitting the 2023 tax return is approaching: this year there are new rules regarding taxes on crypto, particularly the stamp duty.
The Redditi Persone Fisiche 2024 model, related to the tax year 2023, must be submitted by October 15, 2024, according to what is read on the official website of the Agenzia delle Entrate, but the stamp duty must be paid by June 30.
Since June 30th this year falls on a Sunday, the last good day to pay it is the first of July.
It is therefore necessary to distinguish between the deadline for the submission of the overall income tax return for individuals, and the deadline for the payment of the stamp duty.
The stamp duty and the income tax return for the payment of crypto taxes
The payment of the stamp duty on criptovalute must be made by June 30, but since this year June 30 is a Sunday, there is time until the first of July to pay it.
Technically it is not called stamp duty, but tax on the value of crypto-assets (IVACA). It has nothing to do with the payment of taxes on any capital gains, which are a completely separate matter, with different deadlines.
On the specialized website Fisco7, a complete guide on the methods of determining IVACA has been published. There is also an official circular from the Agenzia delle Entrate that explains everything in detail, but it is a technical document that is not easy to understand for non-experts.
The IVACA was introduced with the financial law of 2022, and it came into force in 2023.
It is a tax on the possession of cryptocurrencies, and since the taxes for 2023 must be paid this year, it is the first time ever in Italy that it must be paid by taxpayers.
The amount to be paid for the IVACA is calculated as two per thousand (0.2%) of the value in euros of the crypto-assets held by the taxpayer.
The payment must be made using the appropriate F24 form.
Declaration and crypto taxes: The payment on exchanges of the stamp duty
Those who hold their crypto-assets at an exchange, or a custodial wallet, might have already paid the IVACA. In fact, in theory, it would be up to third-party custodians to pay this wealth tax on behalf of their users, although it seems that not all custodians have already done so.
Certainly the taxpayer does not have to pay twice. So if the exchange has already paid its IVACA, it does not have to pay it again, while if the custodian has not provided for it, the taxpayer himself must take care of it.
In order to avoid paying the IVACA in case of payment already made by the custodian, it is necessary to have a document issued by the custodian himself certifying the payment.
However, even in the case of payment of IVACA by the custodian, the taxpayer is not exempt from the obligation to complete the W form for tax monitoring purposes.
The W painting
The W framework is the update of the old RW module, to which fields have been added to also include the IVACA.
This section allows the taxpayer to declare the value in euros of the cryptocurrencies in their possession.
To declare the possession of crypto-assets in column 3, the code 21 must be entered.
It is necessary to specify the initial value and the final value, plus the number of days of possession.
The amount of IVACA must be calculated on the final value in euros indicated in box W in proportion to the number of days of ownership.
Given that these calculations can also be very complex to perform, in case of possession of many different crypto-assets and especially many transactions and exchanges during the fiscal year, it is advisable to use specific software for the calculation, or to rely on professionals who are experts in the field.
It is very simple to make mistakes, and if the figures start to become significant, you run the risk of incurring penalties of even significant amounts.
The two thresholds
Although there are no thresholds below which the W framework does not need to be completed, there are, however, two interesting thresholds regarding the payment of IVACA.
The first is a very simple threshold: for amounts less than 12€, the IVACA does not need to be paid.
Therefore, only those who, after filling out section W and performing all the calculations mentioned above, are required to pay this stamp duty on crypto-assets if the stamp duty amounts to 12€ or more.
This is not a specific threshold for the IVACA but a generic one for stamp duties.
The other existing threshold is that of 51.65€, because below this threshold the advance is not paid.
Therefore, for amounts less than 12€, IVACA is not paid, while for amounts between 12€ and 51.65€, only IVACA on 2023 is paid but not the advance.
The advance
Instead, for amounts exceeding 51.65€, the advance payment for 2024 must also be paid.
The Italian tax authorities are accustomed to sometimes asking for the advance payment of taxes.
Since taxes on activities of a fiscal year are paid many months after the end of the year, in the following year, in some cases the Italian tax authorities ask in the current year to also pay an advance on the income of the same current year, in addition to the taxes on the income of the previous year.
This also applies to the IVACA of 2024, but only for those who during 2023 have accrued a tax exceeding 51.65€.
The problem is that this means that, for this first year, those who have accrued an IVACA exceeding 51.65€ during 2023 risk ending up having to pay up to 0.4%, including the advance for the current year.
The thing is at least curious, given that it is practically impossible that at the end of 2024 the value of crypto assets will be equal to that of the end of 2023.
However, there is at least the possibility of paying the advance in installments in the case of IVACA exceeding €257.52.
Obviously, next year any advance payment already made this year will be deducted from the IVACA tax accrued throughout 2024.